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If anyone had peeked into the greenhouse that evening, they probably wouldn't have understood why an adult male was setting down teddy-bears and child-sized sleeping-bags in a circle, around a bigger mattress. They might have gone as far as to say that man was crazy, or a ***** on the hunt. Even worse, that he was both. But then again, for them to see that particular man they would have to have been crazy themselves.. And therefor really not in a position to judge such important things as the positioning of sleeping-bags.

Humming the occasional song as he pottered around with Winnie the Pooh dolls and tiny pink teacups, Val would have been oblivious to any lookers-on anyways. The illusion had never even had any friends, let alone thrown a sleepover for anyone. He had had to rely on TV for learning the proper etiquette, and the red-haired youth had been watching a Barbie movie just that afternoon. He made a list during the film and was now in the process of checking it twice, muttering things to himself as he positioned a unicorn in a frilly tutu near a row of abandoned plant pots.

"The last unicorn.. Check!" He grinned to himself, waiting for his guests to arrive.

Order of postings! Nexi, Stigma, Ali, Ati, Skel and Val. Feel free to break out of the order if RP demands it. heart

"Now remember, I want you to sleep closest to the door... The exit, I mean. You can still phase through stuff, right?"

Apathetic hadn't planned on being a parent for a very, very long time, if ever; so, he wondered, why had fate decided to play such a dirty trick as giving him a virtual kid about several decades too early? Not to mention that he didn't even have a spouse so he could say "Go ask your mother."

"Yes, Apa, I can still do that," sing-songed Stigma, packing her own luggage, which was unnecessarily color-coordinated with her hooded jacket and dress. She didn't seem to sense Apathy's nervousness, or maybe it just didn't seem unusual; he had to admit, he'd been stressing a lot more often since she'd arrived.

"Okay. Well, just stay near an exit, or a window, in case you need to call for help."

"Don't worry, Apa, I'll be fine! After all, everyone else will be there... Won't this be a good time for me to catch up with them?"

"I'm seriously starting to rethink that," he muttered, though he waved it off with a smile when she looked back over his shoulder.

"Just... You're sure everything's packed?" He'd drawn up the list himself, after all, and Stigma nodded, fishing through her bag before finally holding up a metal canister.

"But A-pa-pa, why do I need this?"

"Let's hope you don't, sweetheart," he said, sounded (to his horror) rather paternal as he removed the can of mace from her hand and tucked it back in the bag. "But just in case." He wasn't sure if it even worked on... whatever-they-weres, but it couldn't hurt to try. A pause.

"I'll be fine!" she repeated, still smiling as she picked up the bag and shouldered it, disregarding Apathy's worried look. "What could go wrong?"

'A bunch of "imaginary friends,' having a sleepover an an asylum?' was Apathetic's parting shot, as they left the apartment with Valentine waving a cheerful goodbye. 'Yeah, that's a scenario out of Good Parenting Monthly.'

"And you'll keep the phone by your bed?"

"Yes, Ati."

"And you'll keep your cellphone onnn, just in case? You promise?"

"Yes, Ati."

"You'll keep it on all night? Even after you go to sleep?"

"Yes, Ati."

A tearful pause, a bit of a lip wobble, and then the slightly-see-through boy confided to her in a desperate manner, "I'm scared, Aut.."

She sighed, slipping her hand (literally) into Ati's and smiling what she hoped was a reassuring smile. In all honesty, she wasn't sure that she liked the idea of her little Ati spending the night with all these other...imaginary...things that she didn't know. What if they hurt him, or made him cry, or scared him? Oh...why did he have to leave her? Was it something she'd said, or done, to make him feel the need to go? She bit back a hysteric apology/demand for him to stay, and simply replied, "You'll be fine, sweetheart. And..you can always come right back home, if you need me." Did he even know how to use a telephone?

"I love you, Autumn..." Ati said softly, doing his best to put his immaterial arms around her."Don't worry...Val will take good care of us all." But wait. Hadn't he been the worried one? Autumn sighed. Now she knew what her mother must have felt like when she was a kid...heck, she still felt like a kid. She wasn't old enough for this!

"Alright, alright, so I've got everything, yeah?" he asked no one in particular as the red-head crouched to straighten out creases in one of the sleeping bags. Oddly enough he then replied to himself as if he had heard a negative answer from the shadows, which, if the pacing up and down didn't make it clear, indicated he was quite nervous. "You're talking out of your a**, everything looks perfect!" Letting out another stream of unspecified insults to himself, he strolled over to the mountain of plushies currently covering his entire mattress. After a few minutes of fidgeting with a rather large teddy that didn't want to sit up straight, he finally assured himself that everything really was in place now.

Having wandered over to the door, he turned around to admire his work. This looked exactly like what Barbie TV had shown him. As he opened the door (it wasn't really necessary for his guests, he did it because an open door inspired friendliness) Val couldn't suppress another grin.

[placeholder post, wherein Apa finally gets his map straightened out and arrives at the Home... but not at the party itself.
not just yet, anyway.]